NOVEL WEB 24 – Proverbs 20:17
Proverbs 20:17
Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
James rushed into the room flanking the people left inside along with the rest of his team with the exception of the automatic rifle men who kept laying down suppressive fire preventing the thugs from popping out and accurately firing back for fear of getting shot.
The thugs were still mostly blinded by the flash-bangs and smoke grenades having only found cover through a combination of memory and touch. This gave them a chance to flank them while they were still cowering blind and scared behind various pieces of furniture and the stairs.
James used this chance to swap to his combat knife and snuck up to the couch two were hiding behind ending them both with quick swipes across the throat before they managed to fully recover their sight and hearing. Meanwhile the rest of his team had also managed to take down 4 more on the other end of the room using their assault rifles.
Finally he sheathed his combat knife immediately switching two his dual pistols and diving over over across from the stairs where he fired simultaneously to finish off the last two thugs left hiding behind the stairs. The moment they finished the hall returned to an eerie silence from the cacophony that had just filled it. The room was still filled with some smoke that was slowly dissipating revealing the hall covered in blood, bodies and furniture that was absolutely torn to shreds by their ammunition.
As soon as the battle had concluded his team covered the hall making sure there were no further dangers for the moment. James looked around the hall. After some consideration he decided if he wanted to find Eri the basement might be a better option than going upstairs. Overhaul might be upstairs, but Eri was the more important one out of the two.
He signals them towards the basement entrance. Their point man once again taking the lead as they move down the stairs while covering themselves in case of attack.
After turning some corners they hear some voices and upon opening the door find a chestnut haired man wearing a green parka lined with purple fur and plague doctor beak like mask dragging a crying little grey haired girl barely five years old with a horn on her forehead from a basement room. Eri was resisting, but she was no match for Overhaul.
Overhaul was stunned for a moment when he saw the well equipped team baring down on him already not having expected they would be able to get there anywhere as fast while he planned to grab Eri and escape. He quickly composed himself and pulled Eri towards him to cover some of his chest while turning one of his fingers into a blade like appendage that he held up against her neck threatening harm.
"What? How? Where is everyone?" he almost seemed to be questioning them in his confusion expecting to see his minions not James and his squad wearing all black and helmets obscuring their identity. The only thing he was sure of was that they were very dangerous both from the vibe they were giving him and the fact they had managed to get through around a hundred minions to here in a matter of minutes.
"I'm not going down like this!" he said adamantly a slightly frantic look in his eyes.
"Woah woah. Let's all take it easy now, okay? I will let you go as long as you make sure the girl doesn't get hurt. So long as she remains unharmed until after we go our separate ways we won't come after you. Deal?" he says smirking inwardly.
"Of course." Overhaul says smiling arrogantly now that he saw his way out being secured.
"Ok we will all leave this building then we will provide you a vehicle or you can arrange one yourself if you don't trust us. You let her go and take the vehicle, whatever happens after that is of no concern to me." James said hiding the mischievous glint in his eyes.
Overhaul nodded, making sure to keep holding on to Eri and react the moment things turn south.
Though things were "peaceful" James still had his team maintain full alert as they made their way out of the mansion similar to the way they entered, the only difference being Overhaul and Eri following them and two of their members watching Overhaul as they followed for any suspicious movements.
As they passed through the Hall where they had massacred the large group of thugs Eri started shivering in terror tears forming in her eyes, but she knew not to make any moves despite her young age. The death of her grandfather and consequent imprisonment and experimentation had made her very aware that often behaving like a kid was harmful and it was best to behave when she needed to.
Overhaul was rather unperturbed. As long as he made it out of here alive he could always rebuild. He was the leader and all by himself made up the majority of Shie Hassaikai's combat power which he felt mattered most. After escaping he would just gather some new underlings and start building a new empire. Then when he finally regained his power he would definitely have his revenge on whoever these people were. He refused to believe they would have lost if they hadn't been caught off guard.
They finally made their way out of the building the sun still shining. After everyone finally got out James made a hand signal in front of his chest where Overhaul wouldn't be able to see it and right that moment a sniper round grazed Eri's cheek leaving a lightly bleeding cut and hit Overhaul's abdomen.
Overhaul laughed out loud having expected something like this may happen and a mere bullet in his guts was useless with his quirk. Before he could act though he felt something else, a burning sensation was scorching his very being yet he was unable to find where it was coming from.
James' smirk was revealed as he watched Overhaul in pain and felt his soul slowly being consumed by him.
